UK Politics

Former shadow cabinet minister Barry Gardiner, who received hundreds of thousands of pounds from an alleged Chinese government agent, has said he was “deeply distressed” to learn one of his biggest donors had been illegally trying to influence British politicians. The Brent North MP received more than £500,000 over six years from Christine Lee, who is now accused of being an employee of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party. However, Mr Gardiner insists Ms Lee “gained no political advantage for the Chinese state from me”.The link between Mr Gardiner and Ms Lee – a Chinese lawyer, whose central London firm acts as a legal adviser to the capital’s Chinese embassy – was first reported on in 2017. But it was thrust into the spotlight on Thursday when Ms Lee was accused by security agency MI5 of covert “political interference”.During his career, Mr Gardiner has enjoyed a number of ministerial and shadow cabinet roles. Having served as a junior minister in Tony Blair’s government, he became shadow energy minister under Jeremy Corbyn in 2015.After a string of shadow cabinet resignations in June 2015, Mr Gardiner was promoted to replace Lisa Nandy as shadow energy secretary before eventually taking on the role of shadow trade secretary, which he stayed in until 2020 when Sir Keir Starmer became leader of the opposition.Since re-joining Labour’s backbenches, Mr Gardiner has kept a fairly low profile, besides making headlines in the summer of 2020 when he broke Covid social distancing guidelines to join thousands of Black Lives Matter protestors outside parliament. Defending his actions at the time, having been criticised by colleagues such as Ms Nandy – now the shadow levelling-up secretary – and the current Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis , Mr Gardiner said he felt conflicted between his desire to “set an example” over coronavirus measures and also “call out racial injustice”.While Mr Gardiner, who is originally from Glasgow and is married to wife Caroline Anne Smith, has repeatedly insisted Ms Lee received “a very poor investment” from the donations she gave to him, critics remain unsure about some of the details surround the pair’s relationship.One such particular is the fact Ms Lee’s son, Daniel Wilkes, was until this morning employed by Mr Gardiner as his diary manager. In an interview with Sky News on Thursday, the Labour MP said upon learning Ms Lee’s status, he “immediately contacted her son … and I asked him to tender his resignation forthwith, which he did”.During the same interview, he assured viewers he had “spoken openly and frankly” with the security services “for a number of years” about his engagement with Ms Lee. The Labour MP added he had been told by the same security services they had “no evidence at all” that the money his office received came from the Chinese state. He admitted he discussed Labour policy with the Chinese agent but insisted it was never “in great detail”. Since Thursdays’s news broke about Ms Lee, Mr Gardiner has also moved to highlight his past criticisms of the Chinese government, such as on climate change issues and human rights concerns.That did not stop some commentators branding him a “complete idiot” for his professional relationship with Ms Lee.But he is far from alone in Westminster for having links to the alleged Chinese agent . Ms Lee was singled out for praise by then prime minister Theresa May for “promoting engagement, understanding, and co-operation between the Chinese and British communities”. She was also pictured with David Cameron and former Labour deputy Tom Watson. More

The Czech Republic’s new government won a mandatory confidence vote in the lower house of Parliament on Thursday with the coronavirus pandemic and soaring inflation presenting its immediate policy challenges.Lawmakers voted 106-87 in favor of the conservative-led government, in the ballot that every new administration must win to govern. The government was cobbled together by two coalitions which together won a majority of seats in an Oct. 8-9 parliamentary election, ending the reign of populist billionaire Andrej Babis “We’re not populists,” conservative Prime Minister Petr Fiala told lawmakers during a debate that ended with the vote Thursday evening. “We’re not promising anything that we’re not sure we can fulfil.” The coalition government holds 108 of the lower house’s 200 seats, relegating Babis and his centrist ANO (YES) movement to the opposition. A three-party, liberal-conservative coalition known as Together, composed of the Civic Democratic Party, the Christian Democrats and the TOP 09 party, came in first in the election with 27.8% of the vote.It has formed a government with a center-left liberal coalition made up of the Pirate Party and STAN — a group of mayors and independent candidates — which placed third.ANO narrowly lost the election with 27.1% of the vote.Despite their differences on many issues, including climate change, same-sex marriage and the adoption of the euro, the coalition parties all support the Czech Republic’s membership of the European Union and NATO.The government, which was sworn in on Dec 17, has focused on adopting measures to address an anticipated surge of the coronavirus’ highly contagious omicron variant that has become dominant in the country.Among them, it cut isolation restrictions for those testing positive from 14 to five days, and also similarly shortened quarantine time for close contacts of infected people.The Cabinet has made it mandatory for all employees to get tested for the coronavirus twice a week and is considering allowing people in some professions who are infected with COVID-19 but display no symptoms to work.New infections had been declining since a record high in late November, but started growing again last week.The country has registered over 2.5 million infections and 36,765 deaths.The new government also pledged to work to phase out coal in energy production by 2033 while increasing the country’s reliance on nuclear and renewable sources.It has approved a plan to help residents affected by high energy prices, one of the factors behind high inflation that reached 6.6% in November. More

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that it is still not conducting a criminal investigation into the “bring your own booze” gathering at Downing Street following the prime minister’s apology.The force said it was in contact with the Cabinet Office over Sue Gray’s inquiry and would review its position if it receives evidence of potential criminal offences.It has not commented on questions over whether officers guarding the prime minister’s statements had witnessed or reported any of the alleged parties at the time.“The Metropolitan Police Service is aware of widespread reporting relating to alleged breaches of the Health Protection Regulations at Downing Street and Department for Education on various dates and has received correspondence in relation to this reporting,” a spokesperson said.“The Met has ongoing contact with the Cabinet Office in relation to its inquiry. If the inquiry identifies evidence of behaviour that is potentially a criminal offence it will be passed to the Met for further consideration.” Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey urged Scotland Yard not to let the prime minister “off the hook”.“The police don’t need the government’s permission to investigate a crime,” he added.“It is ludicrous to pretend that we can leave it to a civil servant appointed by Boris Johnson to get to the bottom of this.The force insisted that it had taken the same approach to breaches of coronavirus laws throughout the pandemic, where enforcement was a “last resort”.“Where live ongoing breaches of the restrictions were identified, officers engaged with those present, explained the current restrictions, encouraged people to adhere to them, and only as a last resort moved to enforcement,” a spokesperson added.”In line with the Met’s policy, officers do not normally investigate breaches of coronavirus regulations when they are reported long after they are said to have taken place. However, if significant evidence suggesting a breach of the regulations becomes available, officers may review and consider it.”National policy for police forces in England and Wales was drawn up at the start of the pandemic to focus on breaches that pose the highest public health risk.Fines were given out by police officers who were present at events where the laws were broken, and witnessed them at the time.Following the scandal over Dominic Cummings’ trips to Durham and Barnard Castle during the first lockdown, when he was the prime minister’s chief adviser, the policy was clarified.At the time, Durham Constabulary concluded that Mr Cummings may have committed “a minor breach of the regulations” and said there was “no intention to take retrospective action since this would amount to treating Mr Cummings differently from other members of the public”. More

Boris Johnson told MPs that “everybody understands” the Covid rules, nine days before he apparently breached them at the No 10 garden party.The British people knew they needed to “obey those rules and apply common sense”, the prime minister said in a Commons statement on 11 May 2020, during the first lockdown.Yet, just four days later, Mr Johnson attended what has been dubbed the “cheese and wine party”, in the No 10 garden, being photographed relaxing with his future wife Carrie and close aides, with no social distancing.Five days after that, he joined around 30 people at a “bring your own booze” party – the gathering that has plunged his premiership into its greatest crisis.At the time, despite a slight loosening of restrictions, the rules allowed only two people from different households to meet outside, and only at a distance of two metres.In his Commons statement in May 2020, Mr Johnson announced bigger fines “for the small minority who break the rules” – starting at £100 and rising to £3,600 for multiple infringements.And he told MPs: “Let us be clear – everybody understands what we are trying to do together.“We are working together as a country to obey the social distancing rules, which everybody understands.“The British people understand that this is the moment for the whole country to come together, obey those rules, and apply common sense in their application of them.”The prime minister continued: “I have huge admiration for the way that the police have enforced the rules so far.“I know that the British public will continue to help the police, and everybody, to enforce the rules, get the reproduction rate down, and get this disease even further under control, by continuing to apply good, solid, British common sense.”Some 20 months after the comments, Mr Johnson is fighting for his public life, after confessing to attending the 20 May party – while claiming he did not realise it was a party.He admitted he joined the social event for 25 minutes, saying: “I believed this was a work event…with hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside.”Tory MPs say his fate is now in the hands of Sue Gray, the Cabinet Office civil servant investigating all the No 10 parties, although it is not within her remit to judge whether rules were broken.Some senior Conservatives – Scottish leader Douglas Ross, rising star William Wragg and ex-minister Caroline Nokes – have called for the prime minister to quit immediately.Amid the crisis, Tory poll ratings continue to plunge to 28 per cent in one survey – while the chancellor Rishi Sunak has refused to back the prime minister before the inquiry has concluded. More

Downing Street has insisted that Boris Johnson has the “full support” of his cabinet, despite the long delay on Wednesday before Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss publicly voiced their backing following his dramatic apology over Downing Street parties.Mr Sunak’s absence from the House of Commons for prime minister’s questions sparked speculation in Westminster that he was distancing himself from Mr Johnson, fuelled by the far from full-throated wording of his eventual tweet.Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson today insisted that the prime minister took responsibility for mistakes made by Downing Street over the holding of a “socially distanced drinks” event in the No 10 rose garden during lockdown in May 2020.The assurance came after BBC reports that the PM told Tory MPs in the Commons tea room that – despite his public apology – the scandal was “not his fault and he’s bravely taking the blame for others”.Responding to the reports, Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “Failing to take responsibility is in this prime minister’s DNA. He’ll always try to shift the blame, it’s always someone else’s fault. He’s not sorry, he’s sorry he got caught out.”The PM’s spokesperson said he was unable to comment on the tea-room conversations, but told reporters: “These are unsourced claims. What is clear is what the prime minister said repeatedly in the House, which is his view.“The prime minister made clear repeatedly that there were things we didn’t get right and he must take responsibility.”Questions were raised over the level of cabinet support for Mr Johnson when only a handful of senior ministers made public expressions of loyalty in the immediate aftermath of his noon statement.Culture secretary Nadine Dorries and levelling up secretary Michael Gove were quick to issue supportive tweets, but it was not until more than eight hours later that the chancellor and foreign secretary commented.Mr Sunak’s decision to spend the day in Devon discussing a government jobs initiative had already raised eyebrows at Westminster.And his eventual tweet at 8.11pm appeared to suggest that he was withholding a final decision on his attitude towards the PM until after the report by civil servant Sue Gray into the parties.“I’ve been on a visit all day today continuing work on our #PlanforJobs as well as meeting MPs to discuss the energy situation,” rote the chancellor. “The PM was right to apologise and I support his request for patience while Sue Gray carries out her enquiry.”Ms Truss’s tweet did not come until 9.14pm, but was more unequivocal in its backing for Johnson: “The Prime Minister is delivering for Britain – from Brexit to the booster programme to economic growth. I stand behind the Prime Minister 100% as he takes our country forward.”Asked if Mr Johnson enjoyed the full support of his cabinet, the PM’s official spokesperson told a regular Westminster media briefing: “Yes, and you can see they continue to deliver on the public’s priorities.”The spokesperson declined to say whether Mr Johnson was concerned at the prospect of no-confidence letters going in from MPs to the 1922 Committee, saying only that the PM was “focused on the public’s priorities”.Asked whether Mr Johnson believed he was a good prime minister, the spokesperson replied: “I don’t think self-reflection is his priority, I think his focus is on delivering for the public.”He rejected Tory MP Sir Roger Gale’s assessment of the Prime Minister as a “dead man walking” but added: “We very much appreciate, as the prime minister made clear yesterday, there are strong views on this issue.“That’s why the prime minister came to the House to apologise, to make clear we did not get things right and he takes responsibility for that.”Mr Sunak’s deputy, chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke, denied that the chancellor’s support for the PM was lukewarm.Mr Clarke told the BBC that his boss was “absolutely” behind Mr Johnson.He said: “The chancellor was clear in his statement yesterday that he thinks it was right – as I do – that the prime minister should apologise and take responsibility for what happened in Downing Street, but also that this inquiry needs to be completed before we move forward. I think our positions are absolutely as one on that.“This is a prime minister who has been leading this country through the teeth of the pandemic providing us with a world-leading vaccination programme, making brave decisions, not once but twice, to keep our economy and society as open as possible despite the challenges that we face.“He is also the man who has honoured Brexit and made sure we have got a clear programme of levelling up across this country. Both the chancellor and I are fully in support of that important work.” More

Boris Johnson has cancelled a visit to a vaccination centre in Lancashire due to a family member testing positive for Covid.No 10 said the prime minister, who is under fire after admitting he attended a No 10 drinks party during lockdown restrictions, will be following the “guidance for vaccinated close contacts, including daily testing and limiting contact with others”.Mr Johnson was scheduled to speak to reporters, but Downing Street said: “The prime minister will no longer be visiting Lancashire today”.Although the legal requirement to self-isolate does not apply to vaccinated contacts, they are advised to take daily tests and “limit close contact with other people outside your household”.It comes as the prime minister faces calls to resign from Conservative MPs after he apologised in the Commons for attending the No 10 drinks gathering on 20 May, 2020 — but provoked ridicule as he insisted he believed it was a “work event”.A leaked email earlier this week showed over 100 Downing Street staff were invited to the event and “bring your own booze” despite lockdown restrictions banning people from meeting more than one other person from another household in an outdoor setting.Just last night former Tory minister Caroline Nokes added to the pressure on Mr Johnson to stand down as prime minister, telling ITV’s Peston he had “put himself in an impossible position” and suggested: “Now, regretfully, he looks like a liability.”“I think he either goes now, or he goes in three years’ time at a general election, and it’s up to the party to decide which way around that’s going to be. I know my thoughts are that he’s damaging us now,” the Conservative MP added.Her call was echoed earlier on Wednesday — hours after the prime minister’s admission to the Commons — by the Scottish Tory leader, Douglas Ross, who revealed he had submitted a letter of no confidence in Mr Johnson to the 1922 committee of backbench Tories.One former minister also told The Independent that MPs “in double figures” had submitted letters of no confidence in the prime minister to the chair of the 1922 Committee, Sir Graham Brady – with some letters going in after the PM’s dramatic apology.But in an attempt to defend the prime minister on BBC Newsnight, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, branded Mr Ross a “lightweight figure” in politics.In a separate interview, Mr Rees-Mogg also sought to downplay calls for Mr Johnson to resign, saying: “They [Tory MPs] are people who have never really supported the prime minister, two of the ones you mentioned have always been quite strongly opposed to him, and therefore you would expect them to be relatively grumpy, so that’s not surprising”.“I think they are fundamentally mistaken and they are misjudging where we are and what the prime minister has succeeded in doing,” he claimed.The family member who tested positive lives in Downing Street, but Mr Johnson’s spokesperson would not say whether it was the prime minister’s wife, Carrie, or either of the couple’s children.The spokesperson said Mr Johnson took a test on Wednesday and another on Thursday.And he added: “The PM is following the guidance to do daily tests and limit contact with others. As I said, (the) positive test was Wednesday so the PM will continue following this guidance up to and including Tuesday of next week.“For reference, the guidance is to take an LFD (lateral flow device) test every day for seven days, or until 10 days after the household member who has Covid-19 started their self-isolation period if this is earlier, and in this instance it’s not, so it’s seven days.”The spokesperson added that “in line with the guidance, he’s reducing contacts, he’ll be working from No 10, doing the daily tests, and limiting contact with others both outside No 10 and indeed inside No 10 as well”.He said the prime minister will continue to hold meetings but “for the large part that will be done virtually”. More

Cabinet Minister brushes off calls for PM to resign if he broke rules at No 10 partyBoris Johnson is defying calls to resign following a bruising PMQs performance yesterday where he apologised for attending drinks in the gardens of Downing Street during lockdown. The defiant prime minister decided to fight for his position on Wednesday afternoon and mobilised the cabinet to his defence, with ministers posting messages of support on social media. One such cabinet minister is Jacob Rees-Mogg who responded to questions on party-gate in the Commons on Thursday. He told MPs that the Covid public inquiry must consider whether lockdown rules, including restrictions on funerals were “too hard”. The attempted fight-back comes as Labour leads in the polls by a yawning ten-point gap – the biggest Labour lead over the Tory party in almost a decade. Mr Johnson has also been forced to cancel a visit to a vaccination centre in Lancashire due to a family member testing positive for Covid. No 10 said the prime minister will be following the “guidance for vaccinated close contacts, including daily testing and limiting contact with others”. Show latest update

1642085732Who is Sue Gray?Sue Gray, the senior civil servant tasked with leading an inquiry into alleged No 10 rule-breaking during coronavirus lockdowns, is no stranger to an investigation.Having led two previous reviews into the behaviour of Cabinet ministers, the Cabinet Office official has been handed responsibility for finding the facts amid a litany of claims that ministers and Government staff partied in contravention to Covid-19 restrictions.Her remit includes looking into the allegation that Downing Street staff, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie, attended a “bring your own booze” party on May 20 2020, at a time when more than two people were banned from socialising outdoors together.Emily Atkinson13 January 2022 14:551642085075Sue Gray may not be allowed in front of select committees to present No 10 parties reportEmily Atkinson13 January 2022 14:441642084673Jacob Rees-Mogg unable to name Welsh Conservative leader when asked in CommonsJacob Rees-Mogg was left floundering when asked to name the Welsh Conservative leader by Kevin Brennan at Business Questions on Thursday.It comes after the Commons leader called Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross a “lightweight figure” in the party on Wednesday eveningMr Brennan asked: “Following his disparaging remarks about the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, can we have a statement from him about exactly what he meant by that?“For example, does he think the leader of the Welsh Conservatives is a lightweight figure? And can he name him?”After briefly laughing and then remaining silent for a moment, Mr Rees-Mogg replied: “The Secretary of State for Wales is called Simon Hart.”Andrew RT Davies was first elected leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd in 2011 before resigning in 2018. He was reappointed last January.Emily Atkinson13 January 2022 14:371642083157US rejects UK plea for talks on steel tariffs in humiliation for Boris JohnsonThe US has rejected a UK plea for face-to-face talks to remove punishing tariffs on UK steel, in an embarrassment for Boris Johnson.But Gina Raimondo, the US commerce secretary, has now told the Department for International Trade (DIT), that she is too busy to travel to the UK at present.“While Secretary Raimondo appreciates the kind invitation, she’s not in a position to travel to London in-person at this time,” a spokesperson told the Politico website.Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports:Emily Atkinson13 January 2022 14:121642082178PM pulls out of public appearance after family member tests positive for Covid despite not being required to self-isolateBoris Johnson has bowed out of a planned visit to a jab clinic after an unidentified family member tested positive for Covid-19.The public appearance in Lancashire would have been an opportunity for the media to ask the PM questions about his attendance at a Downing Street “BYOB” party on 20 May 2020.Despite official guidance no longer requiring vaccinated contacts of coronavirus cases to self-isolate, Mr Johnson has pulled out of the visitA Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister will no longer be visiting Lancashire today due to a family member testing positive for coronavirus.“He will follow the guidance for vaccinated close contacts, including daily testing and limiting contact with others.”Although the legal requirement to self-isolate does not apply to vaccinated contacts, they are advised to take daily tests and “limit close contact with other people outside your household”.The Prime Minister’s official spokesman added that Mr Johnson took a test on Wednesday and another on Thursday.He said: “The PM is following the guidance to do daily tests and limit contact with others. As I said, (the) positive test was Wednesday so the PM will continue following this guidance up to and including Tuesday of next week.“For reference, the guidance is to take an LFD (lateral flow device) test every day for seven days, or until 10 days after the household member who has Covid-19 started their self-isolation period if this is earlier, and in this instance it’s not, so it’s seven days.”The spokesman added that “in line with the guidance, he’s reducing contacts, he’ll be working from No 10, doing the daily tests, and limiting contact with others both outside No 10 and indeed inside No 10 as well”.He said the Prime Minister will continue to hold meetings but “for the large part that will be done virtually”.Emily Atkinson13 January 2022 13:561642081832PPE contract ‘VIP-lane’ ‘dodgy’ and ‘illegal’, says RaynerThe alleged VIP lane for personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts was not just “dodgy” but “illegal”, Labour’s deputy leader has said.Angela Rayner said: “The Government’s VIP lane for PPE procurement wasn’t just dodgy, it was actually illegal. That was not my opinion, but the judgment of a High Court yesterday.”The Labour deputy leader said Cabinet Office ministers stood at the despatch box “time and time again” to say “detailed diligence and full financial checks were done”, but on Wednesday the court “found that the Cabinet Office simply did not have the resources necessary to undertake due diligence”.She added: “Officials simply searched online to confirm one company existed and another received a red warning but it wasn’t passed on. Can he tell us how much from those two contracts alone was spent on equipment that wasn’t even used by the NHS?”Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay rejected her allegations, insisting that the government had strained “every sinew” to ensure PPE made available.He said: “The court acknowledged, quote, that it’s highly unlikely that the outcome would have been substantially different if a different assessment process had been followed.“I think what the House quite rightly would have challenged the Government on is, firstly, if anything different would have occurred if a different approach had happened, and secondly, on the fundamental point, which is at a time of national crisis, whether the Government was straining every sinew to ensure that those at the sharp end in our NHS – clinicians – had the PPE that they needed. The Government did do that.”Emily Atkinson13 January 2022 13:501642081028Christine Lee: Security warning to MPs over Chinese spying threatEmily Atkinson13 January 2022 13:371642080932‘Cascading revelations of corruption’: How Europe’s media reported on Boris Johnson’s No.10 partyBoris Johnson’s political meltdown over lockdown parties in Downing Street has caught the attention of European newspapers – most of which have cast a sceptical eye on the prime minister’s response.French-speaking Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir carries a analysis piece branding Mr Johnson’s defence of the party “tenuous”, stating that had “played the naivety card” to MPs on Wednesday. Meanwhile in Flanders De Standard says the prime minister’s argument “convinced few” and says he is gradually becoming a “dead man walking”.Our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports:Emily Atkinson13 January 2022 13:351642080332Watch: Labour MP says Johnson ‘not fit to lick the boots of NHS workers’Labour MP says Johnson ‘not fit to lick the boots of NHS workers’Emily Atkinson13 January 2022 13:251642079914Angela Rayner has written letters to all Cabinet ministers to ‘come clean about parties they have attended’Emily Atkinson13 January 2022 13:18 More